Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Vampire's Coffin! / Johnny's Last Jump!

And finally the two remaining tales from the Sept. '53 issue of Mystery Tales #15 ...one a goofy vampire story from DiPreta (um, how do you close the coffin lid with a 4 foot stake stickin' outta the chest, anyway?!), --and secondly, a harrowing tale of two chums on the run, highlighted by some super fine dialogue, ie: "Head North, Egghead, and don't take your foot off the floorboard!"







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SPOOKY MAGIC!



8 comments:

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

Fastest-acting scurvy, ever.

Turok1952 said...

Outstanding tales! The bloodsucking captain got what he deserved, and I see they even filed the mamzer's teeth down to make him look more authentic.

The long stake symbolized the long reach of justice which can even reach past the living and right past wrongs. No, one could not close the coffin, but the point is that the captain's long misspent life of evil is now exposed for all to see, even if the observers in the museum who will view him never knew him for the log of night dirt that he was.

Johnny also got what he deserved, and the accomplice, by his unwise association, got what he had earned by stupidity as well. The fool knew Johnny was as loathsome as they come. Splat-crack went the ganef on the ice. The only thing that would have sweetened the last panel more would have been a pint of red life juice pooled under his thieving, murdering head.

Well, well done! Thank you, thank you, thank you! A super ending story to a GREAT issue! I love these Mystery Tales!

I am still waiting for Sun Girl! Would anyone else like to see this fast-fisted little goddess whoop tuckus?

Anonymous said...

"The Vampire's Coffin" had a lot of open mouths in it.

Anonymous said...

About these stories: (First story) What does a "vampire's coffin" look like; and why would a vampire want one? (Except to rig full of C4 or Semtex or Claymore mines and rigged to go off when some Van Helsing- or Buffy Summers-wannabe opens the lid while my real resing place is some crate somewhere? (Got that from a "Rules for Modern Vampires" webpage. Though I would add a false bottom (for me) with the top filled with fake Bibles (1) or rosaries (2) or something!

(Second story) I just can't "Our Protagonist" not having the brains or sense or whatever to realize this story is (presumabaly) set in the winter and that water freezes (even when moving, sometimes)!

(1) Preferably in some foreign language that doesn't use the "Roman Alphabet" (Just combine one bride/minion/do it yourself; a Hebrew, Cyrilic, Arabic, Japanese Kanji/Katakana, Greek, ect. typewriter lots of paper; and play "monkey at the typewriter"!) :)

(2) maybe from whoever does "Mardi Gras beads"? :)

DBurch7670

Frank Forte said...

very nice.

Prof. Grewbeard said...

"Vampire's Coffin" gets an "awfulsome". after all, to hell with perspective, this is a comic book!

Mark B said...

Thanks for scanning the whole issue Karswell! The colors and printing in the 1970s reprints don't have that 1950s vibe.

I don't know what to call the odd art in Vampire's Coffin - it's not forced perspective, it's more like shoe-horned perspective.

On page 2 panel 5 the captain looks like a T-Rex with that big head full of teeth and the little tiny arm.

Mr. Karswell said...

Haha, great comments... and yeah, sometimes it feels like even Atlas knew they were giving you the business with some of these tales. Not calling them "filler", (though lard knows they gave us alot of that), but even Atlas at its clumbsiest was better than most other publishers of the time at their peak. Nuff said.

So we're halfway through the month of October and I've managed to give you two posts... wah. Granted, they're both double posts, but I do apologize for the lack of updates. A new work schedule combined with my consistantly crumbling mental state and there you have the half answer.

I do appreciate the comments from you longtime regulars, and cool-- lots of new faces and a few new voices are of course always welcome. Anyone with comments, clues, or suggestions please drop me a line anytime... you know where to find me.